George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 
FAMILY  OF 
COLONEL  FLOWERS 


MISSION  WORK 

AMONG 

THE  MOUNTAIN  WHITES  IN 
A5HEVILLE  PRESBYTERY, 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

BY 

REV.  ROBERT  F.  CAMPBELL,  D.  D., 

Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Asheville,  N.  C,  and 
Chairman  of  the  Home  Mission  Committee 
of  Asheville  Presbytery. 


ASHEVILLE  : 
THE   CITIZEN  COrtPANY. 
1899- 


MISSION  WORK  AMONG  "THE  MOUNTAIN 
WHITES"  IN  ASHEVILLE  PRESBYTERY, 
NORTH  CAROLINA. 


A  great  deal  of  what  has  been  written  about  "the  mountain 
whites  of  the  South"  has  excited  bitterness  and  resentment 
among  them.  This  is  due  partly  to  sweeping  and  indiscriminate 
statements,  partly  to  the  bad  odor  that  always  emanates  from 
a  class  appellation  that  seems  to  imply  peculiarity,  if  not  inferi- 
ority. A  few  have  written  as  though  they  had  visited  a  men- 
agerie and  were  describing  what  they  saw  when  the  animals 
were  stirred  up!  Of  course  this  has  stirred  the  animals  up  still 
more. 

The  writer  of  this  paper  is  one  of  the  mountain  whites  of  the 
South,  having  never  set  foot  beyond  these  mountain  ranges  until 
he  was  a  full-grown  man.  He  is  not  ashamed  to  claim  kinship 
with  the  race  that  produced  Abraham  Lincoln,  Cyrus  H.  McCor- 
mick,  Zebnlon  E.  Vance,  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  a  host  of  other 
distinguished  men.  It  is  time  that  the  mountain  whites  should 
speak  for  themselves,  and  it  is  with  a  deep  love  for  his  people 
and  an  earnest  desire  for  their  betterment  that  the  writer  takes 
up  his  pen  to  state  some  facts  that  ought  to  be  known.  Like 
"all  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell,"  we  may  claim  the  right  to 
say  things  about  ourselves  which  we  resent  when  said  by  others. 
A  woman  may  scold  her  husband  for  his  faults,  but  it  is  strictly 
a  family  affair,  and  even  his  peccadilloes  are  too  sacred  for  her 
patiently  to  hear  them  dilated  upon  by  others. 

The  writer  proposes  to  "speak  the  truth  in  love."  If  any  of 
his  own  people  should  feel  inclined  to  take  offense  at  aught  that 
may  be  said,  he  can  only  ask  with  sorrow  of  heart,  "Am  I  there- 
fore become  your  enemy,  because  I  tell  you  the  truth?" 

If  his  words  shall  be  used  of  God  to 'create  a  deeper  and  more 
active  interest  in  behalf  of  those  mountain  whites  who,  as  we 
shall  see,  stand  in  dire  need  of  better  educational  and  religious 
privileges,  there  is  at  least  one  mountain  white  who  shall  be 


2    ^ITSSIOX  WORK  IN  ASHEVILLE  PEESBYTERY. 


thankful  to  God  and  grateful  to  the  stewards  of  His  manifold 
grace. 

I.    WHO  ARE  WE? 

The  name  "mountain  whites  of  the  South"  is  a  misnomer, 
implying  limitations  that  do  not  belong  to  our  people.  Whilst 
the  strain  is  white  par  excellence — fair  in  skin,  hair  and  eyes — 
it's  habitat  it  not  confined  to  the  mountains,  much  less  to  the 
mountains  of  the  South. 

It  has  been  satisfactorily  proved,  I  think,  that  the  main  stock 
is  Scotch-Irish,  upon  which  have  been  grafted  shoots  of  English, 
Dutch  and  German  origin.  The  first  settlers  of  this  stock  made 
their  home  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  and,  intermingling  to  some 
degree  with  the  strains  just  named,  the  race  expanded  by  natural 
increase  and  fresh  immigration,  chiefly  southward,  and  grad- 
ually spread  through  the  valleys,  coves  and  highlands  of  the 
Appalachian  mountains.  But  there  was  a  double  overflow,  giv- 
ing to  the  Piedmont  region  on  the  East  the  sturdy  men  of  the 
Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  warriors 
that  fought  at  Guilford  Court  House,  King's  Mountain  and 
Cowpens;  and  on  the  other  hand  contributing  the  most  powerful 
current  to  that  resistless  tide  of  pioneers  to  whom  is  due  the 
winning  of  the  West.  The  investigations  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
Society  of  America  have  amply  demonstrated  that  this  race  has 
played  a  part  second  to  none  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  this 
country.  The  Scotch-Irish  type  is  as  distinct  as  the  Puritan, 
the  Huguenot,  and  the  Cavalier,  and  is  no  less  honorable  in 
character  and  achievement.  To  this  race  belonged  the  men  of 
West  Augusta  in  whose  fortitude  Washington  confided  in  the 
darkest  hour  of  the  American  Revolution;  the  famous  "Stone- 
wall Brigade,"  from  its  great  leader  to  its  indomitable  private 
soldier,  was  composed  chiefly  of  Scotch-Irish  men;  and  the  first 
and  second  Congressional  districts  of  Tennessee,  whose  people 
are  of  this  same  sturdy  stock,  "furnished  more  soldiers  to  the 
Federal  army,  according  to  their  population,  than  any  other  two 
Congressional  districts  in  the  United  States,"  and  there  were 
none  who  suffered  and  sacrificed  more  than  they  for  the  cause 
of  the  Union. 

Dr.  Henry  M.  Maccracken,  Chancellor  of  New  York  Univer- 


MISSION  WORK  IN  ASHEVILLE  PRESBYTERY.  8 


sity,  asserts  that  the  Scotch-Irish  race,  which  numbers  hardly 
one-eighth  of  our  population,  has  furnished  one-fourth  of  our 
Presidents.  This  is  the  race  to  which  the  so-called  mountain 
whites  of  the  South  belong. 

Dr.  John  Hall,  one  of  the  grandest  representatives  of  this 
race,  was  accustomed  to  tell  this  story  at  the  meetings  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  Congress: 

"An  English  author  describes  a  young  lady  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  giving  her  friends  quite  a  long  list  of  her  own  personal 
virtues,  just  as  we  hear  of  the  excellent  qualities  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish,  and  then  she  always  wound  up  with  this  simple  statement: 
'But  I  am  not  proud,  because  ma  says  that  is  sinful.'  " 

II.  But  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  dwell  on  those 
characteristics  and  achievements  which  constitute  the  glory  of 
this  sturdy  stock,  but  to  draw  attention  to  THE  CRYING 
NEEDS  OE  A  CONSIDERABLE  PORTION  OF  OUR 
S<  OTCH-IRISH  POPULATION. 

We  have  been  too  sensitive  and  proud  in  our  attitude  towards 
those  who  have  sought  to  make  known  the  sad  condition  of  large 
numbers  of  our  people  who  are  far  removed  from  the  highways 
of  civilization.  We  have' been  the  more  inclined  to  resent  these 
statements,  because  those  who  publish  them  have  often  appeared 
to  assume  (perhaps  unconsciously)  that  the  state  of  affairs  describ- 
ed is  peculiar  to  this  part  of  the  country,  and  that  it  is  a  fail' 
picture  of  the  general  condition  of  the  people.  All  this  seems  to 
be  implied  in  the  very  term  "Mountain  whites  of  the  South." 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  same  condition  of  affairs  is  found,  though 
not  so  extensively,  in  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York,  and  in  large  sections  of  the  West,  and  a  much  worse  condi- 
tion exists  in  parts  of  every  great  city  in  the  Union.  And  on 
the  other  hand,  a  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Southern  Appalachians  are  the  equals  in  character  and  intelli- 
gence of  any  population  on  the  globe. 

While,  therefore,  we  may  feel  justly  outraged  by  any  indis- 
criminate classification  of  our  people  as  heathex,  this  should  not 
deter  us  from  looking  indisputable  facts  squarely  in  the  face,  and 
from  acting  vigorously  in  accordance  with  what  we  see. 

If  the  Apostle  Paul  had  "great  heaviness  and  continual  sor- 


4    MISSION  WORK  LN  ASHEVILLE  PKESBYTEPY. 


row  in  his  heart  for  his  brethren,  his  kinsmen  according  to  the 
flesh,"  and  if  his  "heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  them  was, 
that  they  might  be  saved,"  surely  the  deplorable  condition  of 
many  of  our  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  ought  to  constitute 
a  strong  appeal  to  the  sympathies  and  prayers  of  Scotch-Irish 
Christians  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  land. 

In  the  summer  of  1898  the  Presbytery  of- Asheville  commis- 
sioned two  evangelists  to  investigate  the  destitutions  within  her 
territory,  which  comprises  the  eleven  most  westerly  counties  of 
the  State. 

These  evangelists,  too,  are  both  "mountain  whites,"  and  their 
natural  bias  is  to  an  under-statement  rather  than  an  exaggeration 
of  the  evil  conditions  encountered.  They  were  directed  to  leave 
railroads  and  telegraph  lines  and  the  larger  valleys  behind,  and 
to  penetrate  into  secluded  coves  and  highlands  and  report  what 
they  found.  They  spent  a  little  over  three  months  in  this  work, 
preaching  from  house  to  house  and  in  the  woods,  and  sharing  the 
rude  accommodations  and  plain  fare  which  the  people  offered 
with  true  hospitality. 

In  publishing  the  results  of  these  investigations,  there  is  no 
other  object  in  view  than  to  inform  the  more  intelligent  of  our 
own  people  in  regard  to  the  appalling  condition  of  many  of  our 
fellow-citizens  within  the  bounds  of  our  own  counties,  and  to  in- 
vite aid  from  all  sources  in  overtaking  the  destitutions  that  con- 
front us.  It  is  time  for  us  to  make  a  thorough-going  diagnosis 
of  the  case  and  then  apply  the  proper  remedies  for  the  diseases 
that  are  found  to  exist.  It  is  bad  policy  and  bad  principle  to 
shut  our  eyes  to  patent  facts.  The  first  step  toward  improvement 
is  to  acknowledge  the  need  of  it.  The  following  statements  can 
be  abundantly  verified,  if  any  one  is  disposed  to  challenge  them. 

Our  evangelists  found  numbers  of  homes  without  a  lamp,  a 
candle,  a  comb,  a  brush,  a  looking-glass,  and  similar  articles  of 
civilized  life.  Many  of  the  people  had  never  seen  a  town,  and 
the  buggy  in  which  the  evangelists  traveled  was  in  some  places 
considered  a  great  curiosity. 

The  food  was  coarse,  half-cooked,  and  often  served  on  pieces 
of  dishes  black  with  dirt.  The  same  vessel  was  frequently  [>\d 
to  ablutionary  and  culinary  uses.  At  night  the  evangelists  often 
occupied  the  same  room  with  the  family,  and  slept  on  beds  (?) 


MISSION  WORK  IN  ASHEVILLE  PRESBYTERY.  5 


offensive  to  the  olfactories  and  inhabited  by  obnoxious  insect-. 
In  one  of  the  coves  they  found  a  man  and  his  ox  occupying  the 
same  hut.  This  man  claimed  to  have  come  from  Wisconsin,  and 
North  Carolina  is  glad  to  be  relieved  of  the  responsibility  of  his 
nativity. 

Several  of  our  counties  have  no  newspaper,  which  lack  is  at 
once  a  symptom  and  a  cause  of  ignorance. 

Need  we  be  surprised  to  learn  that  there  are  many  families  in 
these  counties  of  which  not  a  member,  old  or  young,  can  read  a 
syllable,  and  in  whose  homes  there  is  not  a  word  of  print — not 
even  a  patent  medicine  almanac! 

What  is  worse,  many  families  of  a  more  intelligent  grade  were 
found  without  Bibles, 

Our  evangelists  visited  a  thickly  settled  district  of  150  square 
miles  with  four  hundred  children  of  school  age,  but  no  school  for 
them  to  attend.  Few  of  the  adult  population  of  this  district  can 
read.  There  is  no  church  and  no  Sunday  school.  Ignorance, 
misery  and  vice  abound.    What  wonder? 

There  are  large  sections  of  country  in  which  hundreds  of  peo- 
ple live  without  the  care  of  a  physician.  Old  women  adminis- 
ter their  herbs,  and  quacks  practice  their  superstitious  arts.  The 
physical  suffering  in  these  regions,  much  of  which  might  he  re- 
lieved by  simple  remedies  and  surgical  operations,  is  distressing. 

Profanity  is  common  among  men,  women  and  children. 
Mothers  are  sometimes  heard  calling  on  God  to  damn  their  own 
children's  souls,  bringing  to  mind  the  text,  "Can  a  woman  forget 
her  sucking  child,  that  she  should  not  have  compassion  on  the 
son  of  her  womb?  Yea,  they  may  forget;  yet  will  not  I  forget 
thee." 

The  women  and  children  do  most  of  the  work.  A  majority  of 
the  men  are  idle  nearly  all  of  the  time.  Their  most  serious  em- 
ployment is  hunting,  or  fishing,  or  running  illicit  distilleries  and 
imbibing  the  blood  of  John  Barleycorn.  In  some  regions  a  young 
man  has  reached  the  summit  of  his  ambition  when  he  has  learned 
to  pick  the  banjo,  owns  a  dog,  and  carries  a  pistol  and  a  bottle 
of  whiskey. 

In  many  homes  there  were  seen  no  evidences  of  affection  be- 
tween different  members  of  the  family.    Children  are  governed 


6    MISSIOX  WORK  IN  ASHEVILLE  PRESBYTERY. 


by  brute  force,  until  they  become  strong  enough  to  fight  their 
own  way.    The  aged  are  neglected  and  despised. 

Many  children  learn  to  use  tobacco  before  they  can  talk,  and 
are  stunted  in  their  growth. 

Bastardy  is  common  and  is  accounted  no  disgrace.  Laxity  in 
such  matters  discounts  a  man's  character  no  more  than  in  some 
of  the  fashionable  city  circles! 

The  following  is  an  accurate  sketch  of  one  home,  and  is  a  fair 
sample  of  many.  The  family  consists  of  seven  members — father, 
mother,  and  five  children,  the  eldest  a  daughter  nearly  grown. 
Not  one  of  that  family,  parents  or  children,  had  ever  been  to 
school.  They  had  never  heard  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  or  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  They  live  in  a  fairly  good  cabin  on  their  own  little  farm 
of  fifty  acres. 

Many  homes  were  visited  into  which  no  minister  of  the  gospel 
had  ever  entered  before,  and  whose  inmates  had  never  heard 
the  Word  of  God  read  or  a  prayer  offered.  While  worship  was 
being  conducted,  the  members  of  these  households  did  not  know 
how  to  deport  themselves;  some  stood,-  some  walked  about,  and 
some  lay  down. 

In  some  sections  the  so-called  religious  leaders  are  ignorant 
and  immoral.  Our  evangelists  spent  the  night  with  a  minister  (!) 
who  had  no  Bible  in  his  house,  and  whose  wife  refused  to  join 
in  family  worship.  They  encountered  another  preacher  who  was 
a  drunkard  and  was  living  with  two  wives.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  the  people  of  that  particular  region  declared  that  they  had 
no  confidence  in  ministers  and  declined  to  hear  the  evangelists 
preach  ? 

Many  other  facts  of  the  same  kind  might  be  given,  but  these 
are  sufficient  to  show  that  under  the  shadow  of  these  beautiful 
mountains  there  are  hundreds  of  our  fellow-citizens  living  in 
poverty,  ignorance  and  vice.  The  causes  of  this  degeneration 
from  the  intelligent,  thrifty  and  virtuous  Scotch-Irish  type,  have 
been  aptly  summarized  by  my  predecessor,  Dr.  W.  S.  Plumer 
Bryan,  now  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  Chicago: 

"They  have  been  reduced  to  their  present  condition  of  poverty 
and  ignorance  by  the  strenuous  conditions  under  which  they 
have  been  compelled  to  live.    Xo  one  who  has  never  himself  ex- 


MISSION  WORK  IN  ASHEVILLE  PKESBYTEKY.  7 


perienced  those  conditions  can  realize  how  terrible  is  their  effect 
upon  the  individual  life,  or  how  great  their  effect  must  be  upon 
the  life  of  a  family  from  generation  to  generation.  To  live  on 
the  mountain-side  and  perhaps  in  the  depths  of  a  forest,  without 
roads,  without  means  of  transportation,  on  such  products  as  the 
soil  outside  the  cabin  door  provides,  and  in  climates  of  great 
severity,  will  tell  upon  any  man  or  woman,  or  family  or  stock, 
however  fine  its  origin  may  be.  The  physical  effect  is  only  ex- 
ceeded by  the  mental.  Imagine  your  own  condition  if  you  were 
compelled  to  live  year  after  year  in  the  same  house,  and  with  the 
same  surroundings,  engaged  in  the  drudgery  of  the  house,  or  in 
the  drudgery  of  the  field.  The  nearest  neighbor's  house  is  often 
too  far  for  a  visit;  and  if  it  be  near  enough,  the  house  is  often 
but  little  better  than  the  one  from  which  the  visitor  comes.  The 
conversation  centers  on  the  crops  and  the  household  events, 
with  only  now  and  then  a  vague  report  from  the  great  world 
outside.  Any  one  who  would  not  degenerate  under  hard  condi- 
tions like  these  would  be  more  than  human,  and  in  my  opinion 
these  strenuous  conditions  are  quite  enough  to  account  for  the 
peculiarities  and  deficiencies  of  the  class  under  our  discussion." 

There  are  two  other  considerations,  perhaps,  that  ought  to  be 
added.  First,  the  settlers  in  the  coves  and  on  the  poorer  high- 
lands were  no  doubt  less  aggressive  and  vigorous  than  those  who 
pushed  on  to  better  lands  and  more  propitious  surroundings. 
And,  second,  the  country  was  so  sparsely  settled  as  to  make  it 
almost  impossible  to  perpetuate  the  inherited  institutions,  the 
school  and  the  church.  The  few  books  they  brought  with  them 
were  soon  lost  or  torn  to  pieces  by  the  young  children,  and  a 
mental  and  spiritual  famine  has  been  the  natural  sequence,  the 
minds  and  souls  of  each  successive  generation  becoming  more 
and  more  anaemic  for  lack  of  nourishment. 

If  these  people  were  Scotch-Irish  racially,  they  were  of  course 
Presbyterian  ecclesiastically.  We  need  not  be  surprised,  there- 
fore, to  find  Presbyterian  traditions  surviving,  even  where  all 
intelligent  idea  of  Presbyterianism  is  wanting.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  here  and  there  through  the  mountains,  the  name 
"Presbyterian  bread"  is  applied  to  cold  yeast  bread,  often  by 
people  who  never  use  the  word  Presbyterian  in  any  other  connec- 
tion and  who  know  nothing  of  its  meaning.    But  the  intelligent 


8    MISSION  WORK  IN  ASHEYILLE  PRESBYTERY. 


dwellers  in  the  valleys,  among  whom  Presbyterianism  has  sur- 
vived as  a  distinctive  form  of  the  Christian  faith,  say  that  this 
cold  bread  was  so  called  because  of  the  time-honored  Presbyte- 
rian custom  of  abstaining  as  far  as  possible  from  cooking  and 
other  household  work  on  Sunday. 

One  of  our  missionaries,  who  within  two  years  has  built  up 
a  Presbyterian  church  of  about  seventy  members  in  a  commun- 
ity where  there  had  previously  been  not  one,  recently  used  this 
fact  with  telling  effect  in  preaching  to  his  people  on  Sabbath  ob- 
servance. 

Many  persons  told  our  evangelists  that  their  parents  or  grand- 
parents were  Presbyterians.  The  Presbyterian  church  failed  to 
feed  and  tend  these  scattered  members  of  its  fold,  and  the  more 
aggressive  Methodist  and  Baptist  churches  gathered  them  into 
their  folds.    God  bless  them  for  it! 

But  th  ere  are  thousands  of  these  people  who  are  not  reached 
by  any  church,  and  there  is  work  enough  to  keep  all  denomina- 
tions busy  for  some  time  to  come. 

In  an  address  delivered  before  the  Seventh  Congress  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  Society  of  America,  which  met  at  Lexington,  Ya., 
in  June,  1895,  Dr.  John  Hall  said:  "I  have  been  hearing  and 
reading,  again  and  again,  of  the  large  number  of  so-called  moun- 
tain whites,  and  poor  whites  that  are  found  over  various  states, 
many  of  whom,  I  am  sure,  have  more  or  less  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
blood  in  their  veins,  poorly  educated,  with  many  difficulties  with 
which  to  contend,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  with  not  a  few  vices, 
in  illustration  of  the  old  Latin  proverb  that  the  corruptions  of 
the  best  things  are  the  worst.  I  say  wTe  can  join  together  in  cre- 
ating public  sentiment  in  their  interest,  in  trying  to  move  states- 
men to  greater  educational  facilities,  and,  as  churches,  we  can 
combine  and  co-operate  together  in  bringing  to  bear  upon  them 
the  influence  which  (rod  exerted  to  make  our  fore-fathers  what 
they  have  been  in  the  history,  "what  they  have  been  in  the  life, 
of  this  great  nation;  and  oh!  what  a  good  thing  it  would  be, 
whatever  our  denomination,  if  we  could  so  reach  these  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  our  fellow-citizens,  not  a  few  of  them,  I  am 
sure,  of  our  own  race,  with  the  glorious  and  blessed  truth  which 
is  the  strongest  elevating  force  in  the  wTorld,  and  lift  them  up  to 
something  like  the  same  plane  upon  which  our  fore-fathers  stood. 


MISSION  WORK  IX  ASI1EVILLE  PRESBYTERY.  1) 


so  that  they  might  be  permitted  to  partake  of  the  benefits  and 
blessings  which,  through  the  kindness  of  God,  we  have  been  en- 
abled to  enjoy/"' 

111.  WHAT  THE  PRE  SB  YTE  EI  AX  CHURCH  IS  DOING. 

The  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  (Xorth),  has  established  schools  at  Asheville,  Marshall, 
Hot  Springs  and  other  points,  which  are  doing  more  than  any 
other  agency  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christian  education  in 
Western  Xorth  Carolina. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  is  also  rendering  valu- 
able service  through  its  preachers  and  teachers. 

The  Southern  Presbyterian  church  has  been  working  this  field 
for  a  good  many  years,  and  not  without  success;  but  just  now 
the  work  is  being  pushed  with  more  enthusiasm  and  aggressive- 
ness and  along  broader  lines  than  ever  before. 

Until  a  little  more  than  two  years  ago,  the  territory  west  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  was  embraced  in  the  Presbytery  of 
Mecklenburg,  which  included  the  following  counties  (see  map): 
Anson,  Union,  Mecklenburg,  Gaston,  Lincoln,  Cleveland,  Ruth- 
erford. Polk.  Henderson,  Buncombe.  Madison,  Transylvania, 
Haywood,  Jackson,  Swain,  Macon,  Graham,  (day  and  Cherokee. 
The  shape  of  the  Presbytery  was  that  of  an  arrow  split  down  the 
middle.  The  counties  east  of  the  mountains  forming  the  shaft 
and  those  west  of  the  mountains  the  half-head  of  the  arrow. 
The  extreme  length  was  not  far  short  of  three  hundred  miles. 
( 'harlotte,  though  not  the  geographical  center,  was,  on  account 
01  its  wonderful  Presbyterian  strength,  the  heart  of  the  Presby- 
tery. The  work  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  because  of  the  great 
distance  from  the  heart,  measured  not  by  miles  only,  bin  by  in- 
accessibility, was  suffering  from  sluggish  circulation.  The 
Synod  of  Xorth  Carolina,  therefore,  in  the  fall  of  1896,  erected 
a  new  Presbytery  embracing  the  eleven  counties  named  that  lie 
west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Asheville  Pres- 
bytery. 


I 


10  MISSION  WOEK  IN  ASHEVILLE  PRESBYTERY. 

At  the  time  of  this  writing  there  have  been  only  two  annual 
reports  from  the  churches  of  the  new  Presbytery.  A  compari- 
son of  some  of  the  items  of  these  reports  will  show 

one  year's  progress. 


March  31, 
1897 

March  31, 
1898 

Per  Cent.  Increase. 

Communicants  

IOOO 

I208 

Over  20 

Contributions  to  Home  Missions.  . 

$  923 

$2388 

l6o 

Contributions  to  Foreign  Missions 

542 

828 

52 

All  Benevolent  Causes  

2164 

4282 

Nearly  too 

Three  new  churches  have  been  organized,  and  three  church 
buildings  erected.  Many  new  preaching  points  have  been  open- 
ed which  will  naturally  develop  into  churches,  to  become  fresh 
centers  of  mission  influence.  It  is  the  policy  of  the  Presbytery 
to  establish  parochial  schools  within  the  bounds  of  every  con- 
gregation and  mission  schools  at  outlying  points.  These  schools 
will  act  as  feeders  to  the  schools  of  higher  grade  at  Asheville, 
Hot  Springs,  etc.,  and  in  this  way  will  greatly  increase  their  effi- 
ciency in  sending  out  their  streams  of  influence  to  the  more  des- 
titute sections  of  this  region. 

For  these  schools  we  need  consecrated  women  and  the  means 
to  support  them.  It  is  not  hard  to  find  the  former;  and  it  ought 
not  to  be  hard  to  find  the  latter. 

The  object  of  this  pamphlet  is  to  enlist  the  prayers  and  liber- 
ality of  Christians  everywhere  in  behalf  of  this  work. 

Six  hundred  dollars  will  support  a  minister  and  two  hundred 
dollars  a  teacher  for  one  year. 

Will  not  the  reader  help  to  give  the  benefits  of  Christian  edu- 
cation and  the  priceless  blessings  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the 
poor  and  needy  in  this  beautiful  "Land  of  the  Sky.'' 

Contributions  may  be  sent  to  Rev.  R.  F.  Campbell,  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Home  Missions,  or  to  Mr.  W.  A.  Blair,  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Presbytery,  Asheville,  N.  C. 


Asheville,  X.  C,  March  25,  1899. 


* 


Si 


Date  Due 





















 : 

I 

1 
i 

Form  335— 40M— 6-39— S 


ft  o.     204    Z99M    v.l  372436 
Nos.1-13 


H,  C»  Religion**  PamphlQta 

Vol. 


Date  (for  periodical) 
Copy  No. 

N.C.     204    Z99M    v.l  37243 

os. 1-18 


CALL  NUMBER 


9  c\  M 


